Longevity Health

Maruchy Lachance is president of Running Ninja!, a lifestyle brand for runners by runners. Running Ninja! offers a wide variety of apparel and gifts for runners to keep you happy and inspired while you’re on the run.

One afternoon while talking to my friend, a geriatric social worker, about how aggressively one should invest for retirement. She said something that validated my commitment to health and fitness: while I should be wise with my finances, I should put even more emphasis on my fitness.

Her job puts her on the front lines with the elderly and she has seen firsthand what happens to those who paid little to no attention to their bodies. Today that neglect is not just affecting the quantity of their lives, but the quality. People always think of aging as something that is off in the distant future when the reality is that it is happening every day.

If you had to think of the single best example of what the epitome is of exercise as a way to longevity, it would have to be Jack LaLanne. I can’t recall why, but his name came up in a conversation not too long ago, and I was taken aback by the fact that the man is still alive and kicking… at 95!

And Jack isn’t just surviving, he looks as vital as when he was a young whipper snapper in his 70s.

So what’s the secret? There may not be one simple answer. To most people in the last few decades of his life, they know him for his juicer infomercials. But, LaLanne originally gained recognition as a successful bodybuilder. He owes his vitality to the power of strength training. Read Full Post >

Talk about leading a full life… Edna Parker (pictured right), the world’s oldest person, has died at age 115. Reading about Ms. Parker, I learned a new term – supercentenarian. It’s defined as anyone who reaches the amazingly small club of 110-year-olds.

The ever pervasive question is, of course, what was her secret to longevity? She apparently didn’t offer much in the way of advice. However, she claimed to not have ever drank alcohol or smoked.

“She kept active,” said her grandson Don Parker, 60. Describing his trips to her nursing home he said: “We used to go up there, and she would be pushing other patients in their wheelchairs.”

Her only actual advice to those who gathered to celebrate when she became the oldest person was “more education.” With that oblique bit of guidance, I began to wonder what other supercentenarians had attributed their longevity to. So, I did a bit of research, and this is what I came up with from the two oldest known people in history: Read Full Post >

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The information provided within this site is strictly for the purposes of information only and is not a replacement or substitute for professional advice, doctors visit or treatment. The provided content on this site should serve, at most, as a companion to a professional consult. It should under no circumstance replace the advice of your primary care provider. You should always consult your primary care physician prior to starting any new fitness, nutrition or weight loss regime.